A devastating fire in a Bangladesh textile mill at the beginning of this month reaffirms the need to extend and expand the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety (the Accord), due to end in May 2018. The Accord, established four years ago to improve structural, electrical and fire safety in Bangladesh's garment factories, entered its final year last month and is currently in the process of being renegotiated. While the Accord covers 2.5 million workers in the ready-made-garment industry, workers in Bangladesh's textile mills remain unprotected by this agreement.

AMSTERDAM - German discount giant KIK this week signed an agreement with the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) to make an initial payment to the victims and their families of US$ 1 million for immediate relief, and to negotiate a long term compensation package with all other involved stakeholders.

CCC welcomes the agreement that was reached between unions in Bangladesh (IndustriALL Bangladesh) and global brands Inditex and New Look on the compensation for the families of 8 workers who died in a fire at Smart Fashions on the 26th of January this year. The workers were young women, six of them aged between 16 and 20 years old.

The Clean Clothes Campaign welcomes the monumental news that H&M and Inditex agreed to sign the legally binding, enforceable and transparent Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh with IndustriALL, UNI and Bangladeshi unions. CCC will sign the Accord as a witness.

Clean Clothes Campaign activists are set to stage protests across Europe on 24th May calling on major brands to pay compensation for fire and building collapse victims in Bangladesh. The protests take place exactly one month after the Rana Plaza factory collapse and exactly six months after the Tazreen fire killed 1239 in total.

Clean Clothes Campaign, as one of the witnesses to signing of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, congratulates the implementation team on the excellent progress that has been made, which has the potential to make a real difference to the lives of Bangladeshi garment workers. We welcome the strong commitment from brands to improving health and safety in Bangladeshi garment factories,' says Ben Vanpeperstraete, Clean Clothes Campaign.

Walmart and Gap – joined by many, but not all, US brands and retailers – have refused to sign the binding Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. Instead, they offer a program that mimics the Accord rhetorically, but that omits the features that make an agreement meaningful. We explain why this scheme falls far short.

All brands, including Walmart, who are linked to the Tazreen and Rana Plaza disasters are being called on to attend meetings on compensation in Geneva on September 11 (Tazreen) and 12 (Rana Plaza) convened by IndustriALL Global Union. The ILO has agreed to facilitate the meetings as a neutral and independent chair. Representatives of the Bangladesh government and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exports Association (BGMEA) have also been invited.

The Clean Clothes Campaign welcomes the news that 12 brands have agreed to attend meetings in Geneva to discuss the provision of long term compensation to the victims of the Rana Plaza and Tazreen factory diasters in Bangladesh. However it remains shocked at the refusal of over twenty others to take responsibility. It calls on the remaining brands, including Walmart, Benetton and Mango to reconsider and take part in the negotiations.